True Grit? What do you use in your drum sander?

A few years ago I hit on a fantastic deal on a lightly used 16/32 perfomax drum sander. Having never owned one before I was unsure of the best grit to use for general flattening and sanding. I went with 150, and I think that was a huge mistake. I have been plagued with burning and the subsequent crud build up on the belt.

I think I went too fine. I'm thinking I should have gone with 100 or even 80. What would you all recommend?

I sometimes run 150, but not very often. The grit I seemed to have settled on 120, and that's what's on mine almost all the time. When I bought mine (used) the fellow had a couple of rolls of 220 included....I pretty quickly learned not to ever, ever buy that grit again. But another thing that will help is to never stick any soft woods in it....they are a curse to drum sanders. Get your self a big cleaning stick when you restock your belts, and use it often...regardless of the grit you choose. (one of those big rubber thingys).

As usual I'm the odd-ball. I use 60 grit for altering dimensions, 80 grit for general sanding but, I have grits all the way to 320 and use them all for one thing or another. I like to get the most function out of the tool as possible and the paper changes quickly so its no big deal. I have made out well on Klingspor's 20# Lathe Bargain Box of End Rolls. Although there is no guarantee, I received almost all ends at 3" and wider so for $30-odd I have many, many rolls of 100 grit and finer. I filled this out with a roll of 60 and 80 grit and all is well.

I have only used 120 with good results. I always run fairly slow on the feed. Really great for veneer making. Follow up with a scraper after the veneer is installed.

I keep 100 grit on mine. Got a deal a while back on a big roll of that 'blue zirconia(?)' stuff. It lasts much longer than the reddish brown stuff. Hand/ROS sanding from 100 grit on up doesn't take much time or effort, so the hundred grit pretty much stays on it all the time.

I have RECENTLY made a discovery.

This was a breakthrough for me - really.

Don't laugh - I know - most of you already know this stuff - but for me it is BIG.

I bought a 16-32 maybe 8 years or so ago - funny how time is moving by faster than ever before.

I burned out the paper conveyor - and replaced it - then Beamer said we all needed to get this fancy rubber thing - I did that.

I burned out - ohhh, I dunno - maybe 10-12 precut paper grits of varying grits.

What I discovered "RECENTLY" is that I was sanding WAY too heavy and WAY too slow.

I was burning the wood also. Cherry really shows the burns.

Soooo - I decided to sand REALLY light sanding and move it through the sander - "pretty FAST"

WOW - WOW - WOW --- what a DIFFERENCE.

NOW - I know what to do.

I fixed up some of the burned wood I had previously sanded. The wood was NOT getting hot anymore - the sanding was faster - and I didn't clog the rolls.

The grits I use are 36 to 80 - to 120 to 150, and yes I will go to 220 on occasion.

So - I challenge you --- go light and fast --- see if you like that.

80 grit/Roughing & 150 grit/Semi-Finishing

same as Al. I do have the newer model I guess, mine is set wide open and adjusts the speed by amount of motor drag.

I very rarely get burning.

I vary rarely take more than 1/8" turn. And I usually run at top conveyor speed.

80 grit on up to 220, i don't often get any burning unless there's a glue line to contend with. I clean the heck out of that sandpaper with the rubber thingy quite frequently - not every pass, not even every session, but if it's covered, i clean it. I check it a lot.

You can't be impatient with these machines. They take LESS THAN 1/128th at a time in some woods that are prone to burning. It takes 20-30 passes sometimes if you've got a lot to take off. I try not to have a lot to take off

Thanks everyone! Went to Woodcraft today and they had only 80 in stock for my machine. Brought it home and loaded it up - took a lot of light passes on a 14" wide cherry table top. just for the record, fast and light has always been my approach, but with the 150 I was still having problems with harder, like cherry, woods. The 80 worked fine and gave me a good starting point to work through the grits with the random orbit sander.

late tot he party rennie but i use 80 grit to get close then 120 after that but i ususally take a 1/4 turn each round but run it threw twice at the same setting run 1/2 speed on the conveyor,, might try faster next time if you folks say it works better

Tardy again! I use 80 grit for rough stuff, 120 to clean up resaw and 180 for more of a finish run. I usually run the conveyor at 70-80 and go no more than a quarter turn at a time on the drum elevation.

I buy bulk rolls of 3" abrasives and cut my own strips. It's way cheaper that way.

I have a 38" woodmaster. Depending on what is being sanded and how much stock needs to be removed. First I scrape off and then use my ro sander to remove as much of the glue residue as possible. That is what kills the paper. (and resin but....)
from there for say a counter top, panels or in the case of woods that are heavily prone to tear out in planing I will start with 80 taking slow light passes seems to work best for me.
Once the piece(s) are flat and even I go to 100 then 150. In the case of panels or a counter I may even go as high as 220. This gets out most if not all of the scratches left by the prior belts and makes final finish sanding much less labor intensive. Again in the case of a counter or panel I will switch to my ro and go back to 150 then up to 220 again. The 150 gets out the scratches left by the 220 wrap.
If the piece is going to have a solid color finish as opposed to dye and clear coat I stop at 150.

The key I have found with drum sanders is slow light feed. The longer the drum has to do its work over the piece the fewer the times you need to feed the stock back through. And the risk of it fetching up and grinding a gutter in the piece is substantially reduced.

hey rich how much of a cut do you take? and what setting on the conveyor?

very slow Larry, my switch doesn't have any markings as fare as fpm goes I usually turn it about 1/4 to 1/3 from start. As far as cuts are concerned. I take a piece of the stock and without turning on the drum I feed it in and crank the table up until it contacts the paper. then with my other hand I hold the drum and turn the crank until the stock starts rolling it then back off 1/4 turn. This is usually a good starting point for me. It gives me enough "slop" for any unevenness in the glued up panel.
Starting with 80 grit I may run 2 passes before adusting depending on how easily or difficult the stock fed through. Then if its a hardwood like oak or maple I give about 1/8 of a turn each pass until it starts to grab then, again, I will take as many passes as I need at that setting.
It seems like a slow processes but it actually progresses quicker than trying to horse it through. And in the end imo I get a better finish. Especially going from the 80 to 150 as the 80g scratches aren't so deep that the 150 gets them out in2 or 3 passes.

Wish I had a drum sander.